The end
"the end" was the first in a series of short films created by Brandon Scott Jensen that inspired the "Canon" universe. "the end" was followed by "Fall," "The Mark," "Fall 2" and the feature length movie "Canon." Collectively, the shorts are known as "The Canon Chronicles. This movie marks the FIRST in that series. Story The short was written by Brandon Scott Jensen and Jessica Osbourne based on Jensen's original concept of God and the Devil arguing over when the "end times" will come and destroy the earth. The devil, Luc, is unwilling to do so because we learn he has fallen in love with a Christian woman, Cynthia. Ely, wanting things to run smoothly, encourages Luc to get on the ball, and indicates he is aware of the love that Luc is trying to hide. Continuity As this was the first short in the series, subsequent shorts and the feature looked back to this one as the basis for character and tone (for the most part). One minor difference between this and the feature "Canon" is that this movie which apparently takes place a few years before "Canon" has Cynthia already having her crucifix, where in "Canon" Luc sees it apparently for the first time. This was done at the suggestion of Hannah MacPherson (who was a Camera Op on "Fall 2" and one of seven Cinematographers for "Canon" in order to re-establish the crucifix as the feature needed to stand on it's own and not depend on having seen the shorts prior. Origins The story for "the end" was based on two seperate ideas Jensen had previously tried to work into a short screenplay. In one the Anti-Christ learns of his identity and is reluctant to start the end times because he doesn't think of himself as a bad guy and feels a tremendous guilt for the death and destruction he will cause (an idea that would later be expanded upon further with the character of Neera Lucian Mobeus). The second was a story of God being, in fact, mortal and part of our every day lives as a human being, niether above or below anyone else. While niether idea was adapted directly (Luc is shown as the Devil and not the Anti-Christ and it is his love for a woman, not humanity that keeps him from starting the end times. Furthermore, Ely is shown as clearly a being with power and control, such as when he controls the weather with his anger.) It was after the premiere screening of this short that the idea for a feature was planted when Jensen asked his lead actress Courtney Bell how she thought her character would react if she knew that she was dating the devil. Bell was unable to answer and when Jensen, too, was unable to figure that out, he felt that the idea needed to be explored and felt that a follow up short wouldn't be enough time to explore that. Tecnichal "the end" was shot and edited in September of 2007 during Jensen Entertainment and Red Starr Productions unintentional "Year of Filmmaking," and was originally developed so that Jensen could get back into directing. It was the only short produced exlusively under the "Jensen Entertainment" banner, as all subsequent shorts, and the feature, were done in association with Red Starr Productions. The cast consists of Joseph West as Ely, Courtney Bell as Cynthia, and J. Anthony Cangialosi as Luc, all of whom would reprise their pivitol roles in subsequent shorts and the feature. Curiously, Jenen and Osbourne had written a brief rainstorm into the script, but Jensen hadn's put too much inportance on it while shooting, but just as the crew set up the shot that had Ely sitting in the restaurant alone, it began to rain. As the Cinematographer, Craig Butler noted that it was hardly showing up on camera, the rain poured down harder, almost on cue. It continued to pour and the camera continued to roll as Jensen gave Cangialosi direction form off-camera. When it was decided they had enough footage, the cameras stopped and so did the rain. The short but powerful rainstorm not only cleared up enough to shoot the next shot at the next location, which was a wide shot of a bright afternoon in which Luc approaches his home, but also provided an actual puddle to splash Luc with forgoing the necessity to create an artificial puddle. The short was shot, for the most part, in sequence. The theatrical premier was at the 2007 Tromadance NM Film Festival where promotional items including DVD copies of the film, buttons, stickers posters and T-Shirts were given away.